4. Hilfiger recently tried to buy the Calvin Klein label, but failed. Sales of his clothes are also on the decline.

5. In the 1980s, the unknown designer launched an ad campaign declaring him one of the four great American designers for men, alongside Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Perry Ellis.

6. Hilfiger became huge in the designer world after gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg appeared on Saturday Night Live in March 1994 sporting a red, white, and blue Hilfiger rugby shirt. Followers of the hip-hop culture adopted Hilfiger and, as, the rap industry grew and began to appeal to white as well as black audiences, so did the designer's fortunes.

7. Tommy was rumoured to have told talk show host Oprah Winfrey that if he had known black people would take to his clothes so much he "would not have made them so nice" but the allegation proved to be an email hoax.

8. Today, in class-ridden Britain, Hilfiger's aspirational casuals are fast becoming associated with 13-year-olds in sink estates. And Tommy seems helpless to prevent his clothes becoming the shellsuits of the new millennium. After an ill-advised fashion foray into Highlands chic, Hilfiger's creative consultant, Lloyd Boston, claims Tommy's more familiar colours of red, white and blue, "are back for the first summer of the new millennium".

9. "Guys," he advises, "should turn to the Hawaiian print shirt for summer 2000". Apparently, Tommy thinks the "bold floral prints on bright colors are sure to attract the ladies."

10. It is the kind of comment which has led Ali G, the man who mercilessly apes the "Wigger" attitude, to endorse Tommy Hilfiger at every turn - a sure sign the designer's cultural credibility is virtually exhausted.